“It’s the same as before,” said Johnny. “It’s the great banshee!”
Then, seeing that the girl was truly frightened, he added: “That, I am convinced, is the footprint of a man.”
“But look! Twice the size of our own!”
“The Eskimos have many legends regarding giants. It has always been supposed that these legends had to do with white men from the south. But supposing—”
“You wouldn’t believe such things?”
“What is one to believe? There is the footprint in the snow.”
“Come,” said Gordon Duncan, who now joined them, “this is no time for fairy stories. The night will be upon us. Let’s be going down.”
As they descended they marveled more and more at the downward passage Tico had discovered.
“It is as if the giants had really cut the way through,” said Johnny.
“Look!” said the girl as they paused after an hour of steady tramping. “There is another footprint in the snow.”